Lakewood Ranch financial advisor hopes to score with new office

When he was a teenager, Joshua Lowe was a bat boy who would ride the busses with minor league baseball teams to be with his dad, Q.V. Lowe.

Q.V. was a former pitcher in the Chicago Cubs organization before coaching in the Cubs, New York Yankees and Montreal Expos minor league systems. The younger Lowe would keep an eye on his dad, who eventually turned to college coaching and earned a spot in the Alabama Baseball Coaches' Hall of Fame, to learn about hard work and dedication.

Joshua also stayed close to the game he loved, eventually playing four years as a third baseman at Auburn at Montgomery, where his dad was the head coach from 1987 to 2014.

When Joshua Lowe graduated from Auburn in 1996, he realized he wasn't going to earn a living as a baseball player. He thought he might make it as a coach, like his dad.

It was then he started to pay attention to another of his relatives who was a wealth advisor.

It was different than baseball, but Joshua Lowe liked what he saw.

"I saw the impact (his relative) had with people. They were appreciative and grateful. I knew I could make a difference."

He has been making a difference in his clients' financial lives for more than 20 years. After earning his certifications in wealth management, Lowe moved to Lakewood Ranch in 2000. His path eventually led him to open a Raymond James office in Lakewood Ranch, on April 1 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It has been interesting to say the least," Lowe said. "The social distancing and market turmoil has made it challenging. Luckily my clients have been with me a long time. No one freaked out about the recession we were in. They stuck to the financial plan."

Despite the oddity presented by the pandemic, Lowe is thrilled to open his Raymond James office in the San Marco Plaza.

"I've lived and worked in Lakewood Ranch (River Club) for 20 years," he said. "I'm involved in community events. I've been a fixture here and I made this move to expand my practice. I want to build out my wealth team."

He had been working out of a Raymond James office in downtown Bradenton, but he didn't have the office space to hire more associates."

For the time being, he won't be adding associates.

"Around here it has been eerily quiet," he said of his new office. "You can't have clients in to the office to do reviews. We are using emails and phone calls. Most of my clients are in the higher risk category and I don't want to put them in danger."

Although he hasn't been able to add new clients during the pandemic, he has plenty to do with his current clients.

"The majority of my clients have been with me for 20 years," he said. "And the majority of my new business comes from referrals."

Although the area has other Raymond James offices, Lowe said they don't really compete against each other.

"We all do similar things, but everybody does business in a different way," he said. "What I do is comprehensive wealth planning. Most of my clients are nearing retirement or are in retirement. That's my specialty. We all tailor our business how we want. I tend to focus on clients with half a million dollars to invest or above."

He said his success over the years can be credited to the teaching degree he earned at Auburn. He said education is key in how he works with his clients. He said he also treats his clients as an extension of his family.

"There is nothing I would recommend to them that I personally don't own," he said.

What he has found is that his profession of choice is just as fulfilling as hitting a baseball out of the park.

"My highlight is when a client shows their trust by referring me to a family member," he said. "That's the greatest compliment."